A number of years ago I wrote an article for the now-defunct ID, a design magazine, about the newest robots, which were not the hulking metal humanoids of science fiction, but took a whole variety of shapes and forms, including that of snakes.

(The Pentagon and NASA, it seems, were interested in snakebots for their ability to slither around difficult terrestrial and extraterrestrial landscapes without falling over. I interviewed an inventor in Palo Alto whose electromechanical snake had been the ring-bearer at his wedding. "That's just what you need to worry about on your wedding morning," quipped my wife. "Are the flowers here? Is the food coming? Did you boot up the snake?")

So I wasn't surprised when I learned that one of the hottest robots going today is a little barbell-shaped thing that weighs under two pounds. The Throwbot, created and produced by ReconRobotics right here in the Twin Cities metro (see our latest coverage here), is tossed into harm's way by cops and soldiers. They throw it into a house or a cave where danger may lurk, and it sends back pictures of the situation inside. Its popularity is turning Recon into one of the hottest companies in America.

Robot Prairie? No, Robotics Alley

But what did surprise me is that Recon is just one of a slew of robotic enterprises and initiatives in the Twin Cities, including tech companies, university programs, and--who knew?--a near-explosion of curricular and extracurricular robotomania in our schools.

If you want to get a glimpse of this still-below-the-radar tech/industrial boom-in-the-making, come down to the Minnesota capitol building rotunda on Monday at noon. An industry organization that, happily avoiding references to Lake Wobegon or any version of "prairie," has simply named itself Robotics Alley is cosponsoring a "Robotics Day" during which lawmakers, officials, and members of the public can learn all about what robotics has to offer the Minnesota economy, including its potential to generate jobs. And yes, there will be robots present in the capitol. (I am resisting the impulse to make a partisan political joke.)

I called Robotics Alley's executive director, Andrew Borene of Recon, and he let me in on some of the details. Recon will bring some Throwbots to the capitol, and he implied that there will be a chance to throw them. Also invited are NPC Robotics, PaR Systems (they've designed a giant bot to help with the ongoing Chernobyl cleanup), and Polaris Defense.

There'll be representatives of robotics programs at the U of M, the University of St. Thomas, and MNSCU, and maybe more. Borene wasn't sure at press time what they final lineup will be—"this is a work in progress," he said—but in any case there'll be plentiful information on a scene that few of us know a whole lot about.

"It's going to be a great chance to simply show decision-makers and the public that we have this industry," said Borene. He added that the most impressive aspect of the Minnesota robotics scene is probably the least visible and the most future-oriented. "There are now more high school robotics teams in Minnesota than there are varsity hockey teams," he said. "There's just a gigantic level of interest in youth and high-school robotics, and it's preparing an entire generation of workers and innovators in this industry."

Robotics Day
Monday, January 28
Noon to 3 pm
Rotunda
Minnesota State Capitol
75 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard
Saint Paul